How much freedom & when?

[a.k.a. Rodney]

My puppy hit the four-month mark and is just had her spayed surgery. tues. will mark a week after
She had it by laser...seemed like she came thru it swiftly & with little to no side effects. I liked her vets approach as far as meds..only I/2of an anti imflamatory for 4 days...no other meds needed..he was quite confident of that. Her scar is at least 95% healed..I can't speak from her perspective, but this appears to be a much easier way to go on the dog. and it was a little less costly..fewer meds & this vet did not nickel & dime the process...he charged one fee all important services & tests included. One vet had me making choices on additional services during the surgery & post surgery...can you imagine..what do I know is vital or crucial & ooops if there is a problem..my fault..glad I left that office!!
.....that was a preamble to my real purpose ...DerbyDoodle has been accident free for at least a month.. She never had an accident overnight in her crate since she arrived here @ 8 wks. First few weeks did have an occasional mess up, but she was learning the "drill" and did it quite quickly, I believe.
This is my question.***.can I now consider her house broken...and*** how exactly do I expand her area & privileges in the house? I a.m. Pretty strict about she's never off a leash dragging on the ground..( trainer s advise..not sure why at this point) she is sequestered in my kitchen.. Very rarely needs to be placed in crate even when I'm gone.. I only do it to please the DH. S he is doing some chewing on wood ...but I a.m. Armed with bitter apple..it does ok. Her chewing could be her major challenge and that's not presenting in a monumental way..she is just a 6.5 oz chewer...
so, when & how do I give her more freedom..it's one thing to block off a small area, but the rest of the house..?? Not sure how to proceed...allow freedom in certain rooms? But most others I really can't blocked off
Ok, any help from the Doodle Whisperers greatly accepted. House is not small and had a rather open floor plan.
Thanks in advance

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

If she hasn't had an accident in a month I would consider her potty trained, but I'd still probably be cautious and make sure if she gets rowdy that she stops and goes out or if she hasn't asked in awhile I'd take her out ... just to be sure!  As for giving her more freedom, are you talking about when you are home or when you aren't home?  If it is when you are home, I would just start by letting her out when you have an opportunity to sort of keep an eye on her, the time to check on her and make sure she isn't getting in to things.  When you aren't home, I'd keep her right where she has been for now.  My Lucy is now 5 and she still goes to her room if we are leaving for more for than just a little while.  It is the routine that she is used to and it makes her feel more secure.  If I'm just running to the store I might leave her out, but normally she goes to her room.  When I first started letting them stay out for a little while I just left them out and went outside and then peeked in to see what they were doing. Normally they were sleeping.  Then I would cut the grass I'd leave them out, things like that.  Where I could stop and check on them.  A lot of it depends on your doodle though.  If you have a chewer, I would not let her out unsupervised at all.  There are too many things she could chew that could hurt her.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree with this.  She seems a bit young to be alone when you aren't going to be there, especially since she's a "chewer".  But when you are home, I would let her have freedom as long as you can keep an eye on her.  Both of my guys never wanted to get too far from me and would follow me around the house, so once they were potty trained I could let them be free inside and not worry that they'd go off by themselves and get into trouble.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

And I totally agree as well. When you are home, by all means let her explore the house under your supervision. I would not leave the house open to her when you are not around for safety reasons just yet. It really depends on the dog. I have never had problems leaving my older one roam the house freely while I'm gone. I got web cams installed and all he does is sleep. Now, the younger one (11 months) still gets crated when I'm leaving for a few hours since he likes to explore and get in trouble. Our kitchen was blocked off and he still managed to pull the table cloth off of the table and shred my DH's reading glasses. Some dogs get bored and try to find something to do even if they don't normally do those things when you are there. I'm hoping one day I can leave him out of the crate just like his older brother without worrying.

[Heather Martinez]

Teddy is 2.5 and he has just in the past month been allowed to have his "freedom time" in the house when we are not home. He has not gone a whole day, but for a few hours at a time he is free to roam a few rooms. Otherwise we keep him in the kitchen behind a baby gate. I actually don't want to let him have free reign all the time because there will always be some times (such as when he has wet paws) that he needs to be gated in the kitchen. So he never knows if he gets to be in the kitchen or the rest of the house. He does not seem to mind being in the kitchen.

For a 4 month old, it might be a little too young to have free reign alone in the house, because she might start chewing more as she gets older (Teddy started at 7 months) and then you will have to give her less freedom, which would be harder because she would be used to it. 

[Moe]

I think it depends on the dog. Mine had free run of the house by 4mo old. Never chewed anything or had an accident. She hated the crate so I stopped using it. In the beginning I would leave her at for an hour or so and see how it went. There were no problems so I kept extending the time.

[Sheila & Finnley]

Well Rodney, as far as chewing goes, I'll swear by marrow bones like these, or an antler. Finnley just turned a year old.

My house has tons of wood from baseboards to pillars. Finnley is a paper chewer, and backyard hole digger. However, she has never ever chewed on anything she shouldn't in the house, and believe me it's not because she is laid back and calm.

She gets a new marrow bone once a week, the biggest one I can find. I bake it in foil for about an hour, and then put it under cold water to wash out the middle and cool it off.

She will spend an hour just chewing on one, and carrying it around. I really would swear it makes a difference.

After she was potty trained completely, she had run of the house, except the kitchen. I'm not a crate person, plus I might add, she is usually with me. I take her with me pretty much everywhere I go. When she was left alone for the first time she was about 5 months old, and I had an emergency. I left the TV on for her and headed out. Everything was just fine when I returned, and so she gained my trust, plus I knew he usually stays close to one of my 15 year old cats. He is her best friend although I'm sure the cat has other ideas ! LOL

Glad to hear that DerbyDoodle did so well with her surgery and is on the mend. Good luck with all the info you get and with what ever tips you decide to use.

 

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I like to keep leashes on my puppies until about a year - then sometimes back on if needed for a few months.  The point of leaving the leash on is that they forget it is removable and it gives you a much longer arm to prevent or correct trouble.  At four months she is just a baby.  The fun is yet to start.  Some puppies begin to really test their environment and its limits about four months, some are good as gold until nearly a year.  But they all will need to be reminded that sit means sit and wait means wait, what is yours and what is theirs.  The leash really helps reinforce limits and commands. 

Expanding her territory should be done slowly one room at a time with her within your eyesight.  I would not leave her uncrated or un-kitchened until about 2 years old.  For many many puppies around eighteen months is the start of the "terrible teens' and they are really testing their boundaries.  Always remember to remove her leash when you leave her alone in the crate, kitchen or home.  You would not want her to get into something that really hurt her.

It is ever so much easier to never start a bad habit than to break one.